When I came home from Paris yesterday, Fall was here, loud and clear…
As much as I miss Paris and OSGMOM and sis, there is something very comforting about being home and back on Canadian soil.
When I heard that we were expecting guests for dinner tonight (my brother in law Steve and his fiancée Joanne <—newly engaged!), I decided a Fall-like dinner was in order.
Oh how I missed my kitchen.
Baking. Cooking. Creating. Experimenting.
EATING MY DELICIOUS FOOD! I’m pretty sure I am going to eat myself into a food coma this week in all the excitement.
This huge CSA organic Butternut squash was the main feature…
It was a big one- about 4 pounds!
Maple Butternut Squash & Apple Casserole
Inspired by Kitchen Parade.
Ingredients:
- 1.5 pounds butternut squash, washed, peeled, chopped into 1” cubes
- 3 tbsp Earth Balance
- 1 tsp curry powder (I used Arvinda’s Garam masala)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 3/4 tsp sea salt
- 3 small apples, cored and chopped into cubes
- 3.5-4 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2-3 cups cooked Brown basmati rice
- 3-4 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 1 tbsp Sucanat or brown sugar, optional
Directions: Preheat oven to 375F. Wash squash and place in microwave on high for 3 minutes to soften. In a medium sized pot, cook the brown rice. While the rice is cooking, peel and chop approx. 1.5 pounds of butternut squash. Place into a large bowl. Add in pumpkin seeds and stir again. In a small bowl mix the melted Earth Balance, curry powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, sea salt, and 1 tbsp of pure maple syrup. Add sauce to butternut squash in the large bowl. Mix well. Pour into a large casserole dish and cover with tin foil. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 375F. While baking, core and chop apples. In a small bowl mix 2 tbsp of maple syrup and 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar. Add chopped apples and mix well. After 20 minutes, remove squash from oven and scoop on the apple mixture. Stir in the cooked brown rice. Cover with tin foil and bake another 10 minutes. Uncover the dish, stir the mixture, and sprinkle with Sucanat or brown sugar. Place into oven for another 30 minutes uncovered, stirring every 10 minutes until squash is fully cooked. Just before serving, drizzle with another tbsp of maple syrup and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Adjust seasonings if necessary and enjoy!
Butternut cheese cubes? ;)
The sauce.
I actually ended up changing the sauce significantly in the end. I doubled the quantity and I brought out the cinnamon and maple more! It was much better after the modifications. The recipe above reflects all my changes, don’t you worry.
CSA Macintosh apples! Just little guys.
The apples in this casserole were so good. Leave the skin on for extra nutrients and better texture.
and bake!
(This picture was taken before I added in the Pumpkin seeds- they were an after thought and I strongly suggest using them!)
Oh yeaaaaaa. This rocked my socks.
It screams FALL….cinnamon…maple…spice…squash…pumpkin seeds…Oh my.
I paired it with a strawberry, coconut, and Power House Glonola spinach salad.
Along with my Better than Bottled Balsamic Vinaigrette! It was lovely.
The dining area:
We had to move this shelf down from our bedroom (I will be showing you why soon, it is part of the surprise I came home to!), so I decided to put it in the kitchen and add my Crazy Dish Lady plates & bowls. ;) It won’t be here forever, but it’s fine for now.
I am off to check on the exciting things going on upstairs. Here is a hint…
Ahhh!
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{ 91 comments… read them below or add one }
The casserole looks great, but I honestly can’t stop looking at the salad! Looks so delicious!
This is totally on my menu for next week now. I’m going apple picking tomorrow and I’ll pick up a squash from the farmers’ market. SO great!
Look at all those leaves! Yay!
No wonder you are excited to be home; it looks gorgeous there (inside and out)!
A perfect celebratory meal! Nice job. :)
Mmmm delicious casserole!
I love that you’re excited to be home so you can cook again! And your dining room is so pretty! Seriously! I love the windows, light fixture, floor, paint color, table set!
that looks DELICIOUS !!
*SQUEE* so excited for your hardwoods!! beautiful!
What is it? An addition? New floors? Buffed floors?
Glad you’re back in the kitchen!
What a fabulous looking casserole! And I cannot believe you already have so many red leaves up there!! Gack!!
Hope you’ll submit the casserole recipe to this month’s SOS Kitchen Challenge on my blog–details here!
This looks delicious – I can’t get enough butternut squash this time of year!
Are you renovating your bedroom? Did something happen to it?! I’m glad you’re home safely, though. And the casserole is just so you :D
Ohhh wow – that casserole looks phenomenal…definitely trying it out!! And yay for new wood flooring!!
Casserole looks awesome!
I don’t like cold weather, but I love winter squash!!! It is definitely my favorite thing about fall and winter!
New floors are always welcome, what a nice surprise to come home too!!!
Ana
I’m so jealous of your house! It’s so beautiful and I love your decorating style! How sweet of Eric to surprise you with a home renovation project!
I needed this Fall-filled post because it was hit 96 degrees here today!!! All I wanted was a smoothie heh heh. Gorgeous photos as always.
Amazing looking dinner! So Fall-like :)
OH MY! That looks DELICIOUS! :) You are so creative! Thanks for passing on a great fall recipe to us! :)
Welcome home Ange!
Fall is here :) Thanks for another great recipe. Hopefully I’ll be making it soon!
such a beautiful casserole, i think i have to make this, i’ve been using a lot of butternut squash lately :) and the apples sound gooood too.
Home remodeling, fun. That salad looks amazing.
Oooo! I’m going to the farmer’s market tomorrow – butternut squash and apples for this girl!! A side of chicken and my husband will eat it! Yippeee!!!
Mm squash and apple is such an amazing combo!
Mmm, now that’s my kind of meal! Definitely adding it to future potential meals.
Thanks!!
You are one smart cookie!! :) This sounds delish!!
Wow, fall has definitely come to Canada. It was 97* here today if you can believe it. There was plenty of squash at the CSA, though, and an acorn squash is on my list for next week. :)
New floors! Fun! :)
And that casserole sounds AMAZING.
What a lovely fall recipe! I make something similar with the exception of the curry. I’ve never thought to put curry in it . . . must try! :)
Welcome home! I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to comment much on your Paris posts, but I’m so happy that you didn’t let the vegan label stop you from experiencing the culture (and croissants)!
Your casserole is gorgeous!
I just went from mourning summer to being really excited about fall! Now I just hope there are apples at the farmers market on Sunday!
Welcome back! I bet Eric and Sketchie are h.a.p.p.y to have you home. Looks like you had a fabulous time–thanks for taking us with! So, I just have to say, the vertical picture of your 4 pound squash, just makes me want to grab a Sharpie and draw a funny face on it…. ;)
tee hee hee…..Stacie
Welcome home!
I have to say living in southern CA but originally being from the midwest one of my favorite things about reading blogs is watching the season changes you guys get. Look at those leaves! Beautiful!
Are you getting new wood floors?? :D
I just cooked my first butternut squash of the season, too! I love that it’s Fall!!
Ooo i love butternut squash. I love squash in general actually
As much as I love going away, there really is no place like home. It always feels good to be back. The casserole looks good and the salad looks divine. I love strawberries on salads!
Nothing like a “small” home improvement/renovation project. Ugh. I HATE work in my house. I am so anal that I hate when things are displaced, dirty, out of order, gross, and basically in the state of “progress”. I like it when it’s DONE. haha!
“Butternut cheese cubes? ;)”–oh that made me smile. And also made me think how badly your hand must have hurt whacking thru all that squash. Squash is so hard that no matter how sharp my knife, it’s still like a bicep/tricep workout. lol.
That rocks my socks too! ;)
What a beautiful casserole! A perfect way to use fall’s squash and apple bounty!
Recipes like this are the reason I love Fall so much. I enjoyed reading all of your posts about Paris. It looks like a beautiful place.
Oooh, that casserole looks great! And I just so happen to have a butternut squash and apples too! :-P
Love the hardwood floor!
I’m so glad your are back! The photos of Paris were beautiful, but I love seeing all the recipes you make in your kitchen. :)
I’m so excited to see new recipes from you again. This one sounds amazing!
I’ve been reading your blog for about a month now and I love it! I thoroughly enjoyed living vicariously through you in Paris ;-) That butternut squash casserole sounds amazing. I’m definitely making it this week – thanks!
I love those floors! How exciting! I’m not a big fan of home improvement stuff only because I hate having dust everywhere, but sometimes its worth it!
I loved your Paris photos but I’m really glad to see your recipes again :)
More home reno’s and they look aweeesome! Hardwood!!! And the recipe looks wonderfully fall-ish and delish! Definitely one to be trying very soon :) Welcome home!!
Angela, I herby command you to not post anymore yummy recipes until our kitchen is finally done being renovated and I have bench space and a sink!! :) This looks SO good!!
haha uh oh that is a sentence worse than death!
You would be going crazy!! :) Well, we have a stove – but the bathroom is a temporary place for washing up and I think I might have clogged the sink in my attempts to not eat out . . . ooh er! However I have an excuse to use the Whole Foods salad bar :)
haha! Oh man I feel your pain. You can come over and I will cook for you, how does that sound? ;)
Don’t tempt me – I’ll take you up on it! Especially after those vegan tarts . . and I’m not even vegan!! :)
haha sure, they are in the fridge. The banana ganache one is gone though!
I no longer have a microwave. Do you think it is possible to soften the squash in the oven?
Softening the squash is not necessary…it just makes it a bit easier to cut. You can certainly do it without :)
Isn’t it so nice to come home? As amazing as your vacation must have been, I’m sure you missed home!
And oh wow on the hardwood! Is your husband installing it himself? That’s so great! And what a beautiful color for the wood! You’re going to love it!! :)
yes he is!
This dinner looks delicious! My mom brought home some squash today (what a coincidence :) ..I may have to take over the kitchen tonight and try this out!
That casserole yummy! Now I know what to have for dinner tomorrow!
I also love your butter rice recipe–best way to eat rice ever.
I’ve got the casserole in the oven—yes!! I am so excited to try it. It smells so wonderful!
I made this last night. I used toasted almonds instead of pumpkin seeds (that’s what I had on hand). The crunchy texture of a nut or seed is very important. Very nice dish. thx!
I made this last night and it was fantastic! Thanks for the great recipe!
Mine is in the oven and my whole house smells amazing. Can’t wait to try it!
Mmmm I made this casserole last night and also tried your amazing dressing on some spinach. Both parts of the meal were simply divine and I can’t wait to eat the leftovers! This is my very favorite casserole ever! It tastes like Fall in your mouth. =) Thanks for sharing it!
I just wanted to let you know I made the casserole last night and it was fabulous! There is plenty of leftovers and I look forward to eating again this week! SO GOOD! Thanks so much for sharing such wonderful recipes. Being a new vegan it helps out a LOT!
This was absolutely delicious and definitely one of my favourites since becoming vegan!!! I plan on serving with Thanksgiving dinner this weekend. Would it be possible to prepare a day in advance? Could I make it a day in advance and then simply reheat it in the oven?
I made this last night for my family and it turned out phenomenal! It was so easy to make, too! Thanks so much for posting :)
Just made this casserole, so delicious and dessert like! I added some golden raisins and it was so yummy! Thanks also for all of your awe inspiring recipes!
Tried this tonight with just a few tweaks. Had run out of the Basmati so used brown rice and had some wild rice already cooked just screaming from the freezer to go into this dish. Added a few more pumpkin seeds too. Loved by all… I was even thinking of having it for breakfast…
I love your blog and I’m in the process of going through your recipes. This one ended up a little sweet for me (and I did omit the sugar). It tasted a bit like breakfast, but as you said, it was a very autumn-y recipe full of warmth and spices. I think I might add less cinnamon, up the garam masala, and maybe add some sauteed onions next time in addition to cutting the amount of maple syrup. Delicious though!
Hi Angela, I made this casserole yesterday (with a few slight modifications) and featured it on my latest blog post. Check out jameepalmer.tumblr.com to see how it went (here’s a hint–delicious!) Thank you for posting this recipe, it was exactly what I needed!
Hi Angela,
This was our today’s dinner and I really liked the slightly sweet flavor-combination! Butternut is my favorite squash so far by the way :-)
I used a bit less honey (I always use honey instead of maple syrup, as there is no organic maple syrup around here in Germany) than you did, as I was not so much in a dessert-mood ;-)
Just one question: Do you have an idea where I could get more sauce from? Vegetable broth or something didn’t seem right to me…this way the rice was sightly dry, but nevertheless the smell and everything else was fantastic! Just some sauce to go from 95% great to 100% great is what I am thinking about. So, I’d be happy about a suggestion :-)
I like how you improved the spice mix from the original recipe. We used the original instructions (i.e., left out the rice), though. It was terrific for Thanksgiving. The main dish was turduken, so in the spirit of name-mooshing, we dubbed this “squapple.” Thanks for the recipe enhancements.
I may make this as a side for Christmas minus the rice, think it would work out ok?
Literally looking at this and my stomach started growling….LOUD! Oh Angela!! You are too good!!!
I replaced the rice with quinoa for protein and it turned out great! I love the sweetness mixed with the curry. However, my squash cooked faily quickly….the recommended 30 mins at the end were not really necessary
Thanks!
Totally making this for Thanksgiving! What size casserole dish works best? I’m such an amateur :-\
Just curious, how many servings does this yield? Looks delicious. Thanks!
Do you suppose I could use leftover baked butternut squash for this recipe? Maybe just throw it in the oven to rewarm?
Hello, this recipe looks amazing and I want to make it for my house this week! However, do you think I could replace the cooked rice with cooked green lentils?
What earth balance product is included in the recipe? “Butter”? I’m sure this is obvious to most but I’m a cooking/baking neophyte. Thanks a bunch! I can’t wait to try the recipe!
Yes, ‘buttery spread’
I made this tonight. It was amazing. Kid and husband friendly. My husband is very picky but he is trying to get back to a vegetarian diet. He didn’t even want to try when I described what it was, but he ate two huge plates full. He called it ‘apple pie dinner’. I didnt follow the quantities of butternut squash, apple, or rice, just kind of used what I had and added enough rice to fill. I also added some garbanzo beans for extra protein and because they are yummy. Will definitely make again. Thank you!
So delicious , I added turmeric to this recipe and it turned out perfectly, my new fav fall recipe, Thank you!
Whoops! I usually prepare all my ingredients first and then start cooking. So I had the squash peeled, chopped, and washed before I realized I was supposed to put it in there microwave first. Oh no! I really messed this up. But…. hopefully it will still be delicious.
Hi! This looks amazing. Just wondering – I don’t have a microwave so can I skip the microwaving step? Or should I roast the squash whole for a bit to soften it up? My local health food store usually sells pre cubed butternut squash, is the microwaving just to help with cutting it up?
Can you tell me how many servings this makes?
I made the casserole last night and it was so good, both warm from the oven and cold for lunch today! It wasn’t even as work-intensive as I thought it was, especially if you microwave the squash for a few minutes before peeling and if you don’t peel the apples. I used only 2 tbsp of maple syrup and no extra, which was plenty sweet enough for me. I also used a few chopped walnuts instead of pumpkin seeds. This dish is really delicious, easy, and healthy! :) Thank you for this yummy recipe!
I am a newlywed and just cooked dinner for my husband’s whole family for the first time. They are gourmet cooks so I was a little intimidated. But wow, made this as a side dish and they LOVED it! Great dish for our pre-Christmas family dinner. Great combo with the squash, sweet apples (I used one gala and one green) paired with the brown basmati rice- delicious! Thank you so much Angela!
Theres an ingredient listed here as Earth Balance. Thats a brand. What is the ingredient? I want to make this but dont know what it is!
Thanks
Hi Diane, Great question! In this case I’m referring to Earth Balance’s vegan buttery spread. :)
Delicious! I’ve made this a couple times, making a few changes. I use kabocha squash instead of butternut, and I also cut down on the earth balance a bit, using 2 tablespoons instead of three, and I also add a can of chickpeas to make it a meal.
Tastes like pure fall goodness :)
Hi! This looks so good! I would like to bring this to a pot luck. What would you recommend for re-heating? I was thinking I would cook this about an hour or two before it would be served and just need to quickly pop it in the oven at the venue to warm it back up. How long would you recommend?
Hey Joanne, Oh it’s been a long time since I’ve made this recipe so I had to take a peek at it for a refresher. I think it would need around 20 to 30 minutes reheating in the oven?
Thanks, I will give that a try!